As part of a special promotion by Intel I received a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 “ 16 GB wifi with an Intel processor last week. While I’m primarily an Apple guy, I remain open minded to all things, and would you believe I had on order a Nexus 7 at the time I got the lucky email. My goal has been to move from simply supporting non-Apple tablets to becoming a daily user so I can give clients more tips and tricks with my computer support business here in Lawrence, Kansas.

I returned the Nexus and dove right into the Android world.

That’s when I ran into my first big snag. While pretty much any computer running, let’s say, Windows 8 will run any program designed for Windows 8 as long as it meets minimum requirements, that isn’t always true with Android. This device is running “Jelly Bean” 4.2.2 which means it should run most modern apps.

One reason I wanted and Android Tablet is to be able to do computer support remotely via Google’s Helpouts and lo and behold I ran into this error: “Incompatible with your device”. Ouch

I checked with friends on Facebook and searched forums and everyone I talked to was very surprised. I even reached out the Intel team on Twitter.

and my response was funny only because they were referring to the Windows based tablets not the Android.

At this point, we still don’t have an answer as to why the Google Helpouts app won’t install on this modern Samsung tablet. Is it the processor (possibly but not likely), the size of the tablet (probably), or the lack of a SIM card (probably not). Obviously I didn’t have a tablet before so I can live without it, but it sure would have been nice to give Helpouts anywhere. Incidentally, there’s been no announcements of an iOS version of Helpouts, so I’m no worse for the wear there.

Another app I enjoy is Lynda.com, which is a paid service that gives you thousands of training videos on computers and business issues. It works great on my iPhone and iPad and I wanted to start taking the Samsung to the gym so I can watch videos on it while on the elliptical. No go on that one either so I am zero-for-two with trying to get popular apps to install on the Samsung tablet..

The next app I was interested in was Amazon’s app, but I incorrectly found the phone version rather than the tablet version. Eventually I figured that out. Part of the problem was I briefly had a Android phone and Google remembered past purchases.

These experiences were the big bump and in retrospect it wasn’t that bad – but I learned a valuable lesson about the Android tablet world. Not all apps run on all devices, even if the specs are ok. If you have a critical app (Google Helpouts?) it’s best to find out if the device is supported before you purchase it.

Next week I’ll be able to give you a full report on my day-to-day use of the new tablet as my iPad remains in its charging station for the most part and I go on the road with the Samsung tablet.

DISCLOSURE: In exchange for two social media mentions and one blog post a week, I was gifted this tablet by Intel representatives I, however am free to say what I want beyond the scope of those requirements. Intel might provide me additional information or incentives and those will clearly be disclosed.

Dave Greenbaum aka DoctorDave or incorrectly Dr. Dave does computer repair in Lawrence, KS as well as doing computer repair in Topeka, KS. He's been making "mouse calls" since 1990 and shares his thoughts on various topics here on his blog. If you arrived here directly, make sure to visit the main DoctorDave web site to learn all about Dave and the many services he offers.